Conclusions These results indicate that high serum adiponectin is associated with accelerated carotid atherosclerosis in SLE young women and it might be useful to improve vascular risk stratification in this patient setting.Background and aims Previous data show contradicting results regarding relevance of obesity on outcome in peripheral arterial disease (PAD). https://www.selleckchem.com/products/ru58841.html Thus, this study aims to evaluate the predictive power of obesity as measured by established and novel obesity indices (waist circumference WC, waist-hip ratio WHR, body-mass index BMI, body adiposity index BAI, visceral adiposity index VAI, weight-adjusted waist index WWI) in a PAD cohort. Methods and results In 367 patients with diagnosed PAD anthropometric parameters were assessed at study inclusion in an observational study. Mortality data was retrieved from the central death registry after five years. Outcome analyses were performed by multivariable Cox-regression models. 57 PAD patients (15.5%) died during the follow-up, of those 36 were categorized as cardiovascular origin. Patients from the all-cause mortality group were older, more often diabetics with a worse glucose control and had worse renal function. Obesity indices were not significantly different between the event and control group. None of the evaluated risk factors predicted cardiovascular or all-cause death after multivariable adjustment for age, gender, LDL-C, serum creatinine, systolic blood pressure, CRP, smoking habits, diabetes status and previous history of peripheral revascularisation (all-cause WC 1.007 (0.983-1.031), WHR 1.772 (0.106-29.595), BMI 1.006 (0.939-1.078), BAI 1.002 (0.945-1.063), VAI 1.019 (0.895-1.161), WWI 1.085 (0.831-1.416); cv-death WC 1.007 (0.978-1.036), WHR 0.382 (0.006-25.338), BMI 1.004 (0.918-1.098), BAI 1.034 (0.959-1.116), VAI 1.036 (0.885-1.213), WWI 1.061 (0.782-1.441)). Conclusion Obesity as risk marker estimated by indices both for general and visceral adiposity, does not predict mortality in a secondary prevention cohort of PAD patients.Background and aims The relationships between dietary protein intake and risk of all-cause, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and cancer mortality are still unclear. We conducted a systematic review with meta-analysis of cohort studies to summarize the evidence. Methods and results We searched PubMed and Web of Science for relevant studies through February 2020. The associations of total, animal, and plant proteins with all-cause, CVD, and cancer mortality were evaluated. Study-specific relative risks (RR) were pooled using the fixed effect model when no significant heterogeneity was detected; otherwise the random effect model was employed. Twelve cohort studies were eligible for the study. Increased total protein showed no clear association with risk of all-cause, CVD, and cancer mortality. In the stratified analysis by protein sources, higher plant protein intake was associated with a reduced risk of all-cause mortality (highest vs lowest intake RR = 0.92; 95% CI 0.88, 0.96; each 3% increment of intake RR = 0.97; 95% CI 0.94, 0.99), and may be associated with a reduced risk of CVD mortality (highest vs lowest intake RR = 0.90; 95% CI 0.80, 1.01; each 3% increment of intake RR = 0.95; 95% CI 0.91, 0.99). Moreover, higher intake of animal protein may be associated with an increased risk of CVD mortality (highest vs lowest intake RR = 1.11; 95% CI 1.01, 1.22; each 3% increment of intake RR = 1.02; 95% CI 0.98, 1.06). Conclusion This study demonstrates that higher plant protein intake is associated with a reduced risk of all-cause and CVD-related mortality. Persons should be encouraged to increase their plant protein intake to potentially decrease their risk of death.The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) has become a global pandemic. It has spread to more than 100 countries, and more than 1 million cases have been confirmed. Although coronavirus causes severe respiratory infections in humans, accumulating data have demonstrated cardiac complications and poor outcome in patients with COVID-19. A large percent of patients have underlying cardiovascular disease, and they are at a high risk of developing cardiac complications. The basics of the virus, the clinical manifestations, and the possible mechanisms of cardiac complications in patients with COVID-19 are reviewed. Before an effective vaccine or medicine is available, supportive therapy and identifying patients who are at high risk of cardiac complications are important.Extensive research is ongoing in the field of orthoses/exoskeleton design for efficient lower limbs assistance. However, despite wearable devices reported to improve lower limb mobility, their structural impacts on whole-body vertical dynamics have not been investigated. This study introduced a model identification approach and frequency domain analysis to quantify the impacts of orthosis-generated vibrations on limb stability and contractile dynamics. Experiments were recorded in the motion capture lab using 11 unimpaired subjects by wearing an adjustable ankle-foot orthosis (AFO). The lower limb musculoskeletal structure was identified as spring-mass (SM) and spring-mass-damper (SMD) based compliant models using the whole-body centre-of-mass acceleration data. Furthermore, Nyquist and Bode methods were implemented to quantify stabilities resulting from vertical impacts. Our results illustrated a significant decrease (p less then 0.05) in lower limb contractile properties by wearing AFO compared with a normal walk. Also, stability margins quantified by wearing AFO illustrated a significant variance in terms of gain-margins (p less then 0.05) for both loading and unloading phases whereas phase-margins decreased (p less then 0.05) only for the respective unloading phases. The methods introduced here provide evidence that wearable orthoses significantly affect lower limb vertical dynamics and should be considered when evaluating orthosis/prosthesis/exoskeleton effectiveness.Objectives To explore the prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) within a professional rugby league team and determine associations of OSA with ethnicity, positional group, and physical characteristics. Design Observational prospective cohort study. Methods Twenty-two professional rugby league athletes underwent one night of home-based polysomnography with apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), rapid eye movement (REM)AHI, non-REMAHI and supineAHI determined to indicate OSA. Linear models were used to assess if playing position (back or forward) or ethnicity (European-Australian or Polynesian) influenced AHI, REMAHI, non-REMAHI and supineAHI. Models were also built to determine differences according to body composition. Results Seven athletes were classified with mild OSA (6 forwards and 1 back, 3 European-Australians, and 4 Polynesians) and three with moderate OSA (2 forwards and 1 back, 3 Polynesians). When considering ethnicity, differences were observed between Polynesians and European-Australians for REMAHI (ES=0.